Dispelling The Myths

OR

Things I wish the manual hadn't told me!

Daggerfall User's Guide

Note: While checking the content of this page among the Daggerfall newsgroup posters it has come to our attention that there are several different versions of the game manual out there. Not all the versions contain all the errors! To try and add some clarity I have marked all those points that seem to vary between manuals with this symbol:

In the Character Generation section there is a Special Class Advantage of 'Climate Survival' listed. This does not exist in the game. Not listed is 'Acute Hearing' which is available in the game.

In the section on climbing you are told to equip a rope to climb down. Forget it - there are no ropes in the game! If it's a short distance (ie the top of a ladder in an attic) you can just jump down with no damage. If it's a long drop you will need either a slowfall or levitate spell to avoid damage. If you're really desperate you can turn on the invulnerability cheat and then jump!

Ignore the experience point total shown on the character sheet diagram. There are no experience points in Daggerfall and all level increases are based on improving your skills.

In the section on banks there is a suggestion about loading your wagon up with gold. Don't try it! All you can do with gold is deposit it in the bank or drop it, and dropped gold is gone forever!

The battle axe is actually a one handed weapon, not two handed, and does a basic damage of 2-12. Morningstars do not exist in the game, but flails do, with the information listed for the morningstar. Additionally, the damage listed for some other weapons appears to be incorrect: Short Bow (4-16), Long Bow (4-18), War Axe (2-16). A full table of weapons details can be found here.

In the tables that list material bonuses for both weapons and armour, orcish is incorrectly placed. Instead of being in the mithril area, it should be listed as second only to daedric, and gives a bonus of +10 to weapon damage and +9 to armour rating. Check here for more armour details.

A note in the weaponry section says that some creatures like werewolves can only be harmed by silver weapons. This is not strictly true - they can be harmed by silver OR BETTER weapons. In other words, don't bother hoarding your silver weapons for that werewolf encounter. Once you start using elven or better weaponry you can deal with the werebeasts without resorting back to silver.

The following spells are listed in the manual but I have yet to encounter them in the game:

Acidic Field

Flare

Ghost Form

Harbour Air

Notorgo's Curse

Remedy

In the casting spells section the keyboard shortcut for the spellbook is listed as 'C' - this is actually the backspace key as shown in the diagrams.

In the section on magical items you are recommended to take your magical items to a good weapons or armour store periodically to get them fixed and recharged. Don't bother as only non-magical items can be repaired this way. To repair magical items you will need to enable a cheatmode and have access to an item maker.

In the spell listing pages it states that 'The following spells are available at all Mages Guilds'. This is not strictly true. Most of them will be available at an incense quality guild but, for instance, Fireball cannot be found in the Daggerfall City guild. And lower quality guilds tend to stock a smaller range of these spells which varies from guild to guild.

On the Lineage page it lists Mynisera's date of death (actually a repeat of Lysandus' date of death). Either this is totally incorrect or she is a very well preserved undead creature when you meet her in the main quest!

Daggerfall Tutorial

When you start a new game of Daggerfall you will be given the option of running a tutorial that will talk you through some of the basics of the game. It contains a lot of useful information, but a few problems as well!

There are supposedly at least 9 lessons in the tutorial, but I have never managed to see number 7 and it has never continued on to number 9 after I've left Privateer's hold as it promises.

Tutorial 2: The key to switch weapons when you have two equipped is 'S', not 'H' as listed here.

Tutorial 8: If you follow the advice given and travel cautiously to Daggerfall City it will take you 8 days - hardly 'enough time to get there' before the tutorial is supposed to pick up in 7 days!

Prima Publishing: Daggerfall Unauthorized Strategy Guide

Ignore the bank robbing suggestion to cancel a loan. The only thing you can rob from a bank are the books from the shelves.

The general opinion on making donations to temples is that it doesn't gain you any bonuses in the game. But go ahead anyway if it makes you feel good!

The character attribute increase bug is definitely fixed by version 2.13, so don't waste your time!